Larry Markovitz lives in Miami, Florida with his family and is the CEO of Markati Group, which he runs with his wife Shiri Sarfati. He is extremely helpful and sharing with the SEO and SEM community and has helped so many people in a mentorship role with their SEM careers. Larry is also one of the first to share all the honor stories here as well.

He is very active on social media, chiming in on conversations, resharing content and publishing his own content both with tactical advice and also with efforts to improve the community at large. In addition, he is very behind the scenes - you don't hear much about him in public, but he often will send a colleague an email or Facebook message when he feels he can help them or offer assistance in any way.

Paul Shapiro nominated Larry and wrote:

We talk a lot about mentorship in SEO, but I think it's actually pretty rare. Larry has acted as a mentor to me since I started working in the industry and even today continues to provide me valuable insights for my life and career. Larry is a mensch.

A mensch indeed!

Larry Markovitz Bio: A seasoned digital marketing professional with 17 years of e-business experience managing affiliate, search (SEO, PPC), social media, digital PR, direct response and content marketing strategy for many of the largest and globally known companies including Apple, BlackRock, SAP, and Colgate as well as helping entrepreneurial businesses promote their brands online. He has written several articles for industry websites including ClickZ and was an invited guest presenter at ClickZ Live, digital marketing and advertising conference.

Lawrence is a graduate of The Art Institute - Toronto where he earned a degree in Digital Media and Design & Marketing.

Favorite thing about the SEO community? As an SEO, we somehow are all connected by a shared knowledge and common language. It’s a little global community of like-minded individuals and no matter where we are in the world we can connect. I live in Miami, FL, and recently Christoph C. Cemper was in town for a conference and we decided to meet up for dinner and drinks. We spent a couple of hours just chatting about SEO and it was energizing. This is the power of the SEO community. We are all in it together working towards a common goal.

One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Seek out a mentor. I was fortunate in my career to have mentors in my life that have helped catapult my career as an executive in some of largest advertising agencies working with some of the biggest clients in the world. And I have mentored a few people who have gone on to become true leaders and experts in the SEO community and we continue to share information and ideas on a regular basis. It’s this type of knowledge-sharing that allows the community to grow and attract new talent and new ideas.

Favorite things in general? I love American comfort food and will never say no to a great slice of pizza or juicy burger. I could live in my blue jeans, a button down and a pair of kicks. I love spending time with my family – my two boys and wife – whether exploring the burgeoning art scene in Miami, discovering a new foodie destination or just hanging out at the beach.

What you want to be known for in the SEO space? People know me as an honest, results-driven SEO that has integrity and is always willing to share my knowledge with others – whether they understand the lingo or not. I’m always looking to simplify SEO for my clients and also share with them the whole picture. There is no silver bullet to SEO. But you can definitely see results in a couple of days not 6 months to a year. My clients don’t want to wait that long to see results.

On the flip side, there is a lot of black hat SEOs out there that give the industry a bad name. I think we can do better, advance the industry with better insights and provide a better experience for people online.